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Sunday, February 9, 2014

Canva: Graphic Creation Tool

I use images all the time in class, and when creating blog posts, documents, videos, and presentations. With the focus on citing sources and the threat of copyright infringements, it is just better to make my own. I found a great (and best of all free) site that lets me do just that. Going to www.canva.comand creating an account allows users to make almost endless images with their templates and vast stock of text images. Creating Images:

Creating your own images is easy. After creating an account, you can get started. You can create images from the set templates to help if you like. Here are the sample templates they offer:

Social Media

Presentation

Poster

Blog Graphic

Facebook Cover

Document

Card

Photo Collage

Business Card Invitation

These are great places to start, but each and every one is very customizable. After choosing a template, you can add layouts, images, text, backgrounds, and more. Images can be your own uploaded or selected from the stock images. There are a ton of stylish text boxes ranging from postage stamps, movie tickets, vintage signs, and many more. Almost everything you can imagine is available. You may be asking, “How is this free?” (like I did). There are some images that if you want to use them they cost $1. I have created a number of images and never needed a paid image (and don’t ever see having to do so). This is great for the teacher that wants to create professional images with boarders, style, and flair for free. Here are a couple samples I threw together in just minutes: